Thursday, October 30, 2008

ANCIENT ORIGINS - The REAL stroy of Halloween







THE REAL STORY OF HALLOWEEN


Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The History of Halloween.

Video: The haunting History of All Hallow's Eve (Halloween).

Video: Timothy Dickinson tells the intriguing tale of why we celebrate Halloween, and it's evolution from Samhain, an ancient Celtic Harvest Festival.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

ALL THE VOTES ARE IN AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!



All the votes are in totalling 49 votes. For those of you that liked them all and could not make up your mind I counted your vote as 1 for each participant. So the votes were as follows.

Lori Garbarino # 1 - 6 total votes

Jann # 2 - 9 total votes

Jann # 3 - 6 total votes

Vickie Coonfare # 4 - 11 total votes

Angelina Thoma # 5 - 6 total votes

Angelina Thoma # 6 - 4 total votes

Susan Cleveland # 7 - 7 total votes


So as you can see the winner is VICKIE COONFARE of Whispers of Inspiration with a total of 11 votes !
Congratulatoins Vickie.

The winner will receive this 5 x 7 collage of this Victorian Women holding a Jack o Lantern created, signed and dated by me.
This collage was done on Masonite using acrylic paint, a page from a 1923 National Magazine and embellished with glitter. The rest of your prize is on it's way so keep you eye out for the winning box!

All other participants will receive an ATC made from a copy of this collage. I hope you enjoy it. It was made with love just for you!!

Thanks to all of you that participated. This was so fun I am thinking of doing another one for Thanksgiving. What do you think?

Also thanks to all of you that stopped by and voted. This is what made this swap so special to me.
Thanks again to everyone!

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On a very important note.... I have three birthdays to celebrate in October.


My oldest son David Oct 30th
His daughters..


Melissa Oct 6th

Angela Oct 17th.

I am so very proud of all of you and wish you a Happy Happy Birthday!!

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Last but not least, I did some creating for my Etsy Team using Ocean Colors since the name of our team is OceanTeam Etsy . They will appear on a rack card for advertising our team and Etsy Homemade.

Metomorphosis

Ocean Hugs

What do you think of them. Kind of different for me huh?

Saturday, October 25, 2008

AT HALLOWEEN SWAP CHALLENGE

Here are the entries for my ATC Halloween Swap Challenge.
The participants were to enter their ATC by midnight tonight so that all who visit this site can VOTE for the MOST UNUSUAL ATC.

Voting will be open until midnight October 28th at which time the winner will be announced so leave a comment with your vote and tell all your friends to stop by and leave a comment voting for their choice for MOST UNUSUAL ATC.

Thanks and GOOD LUCK!!

# 1
Lori with "Out Of Your Mouth Your Heart Speaks"


# 2
Jann from "A Vintage Heart"

#3
Jann from "A Vintage Heart"

#4
Vickie from "Whispers of Inspriation"




#5
Angelina from Angelina's Trinkets



#6
Angelina from Angelina's Trinkets


# 7
Susan from Black Berry Creek


Thursday, October 16, 2008

SWAP PARTNERS



Okay girls, the dead line to sign up for the ATC Halloween Swap was yesterday.
We have 6 participants including myself so here are the partners.

  • Create your Halloween ATC.
  • Post it on your blog by October 25th.
  • I will go there and make a copy to post on my blog.
  • I will have a vote along with all the photos as to which one is the most unsual.
  • The winner will receive a surprise from ME!

Good Luck and have fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Partners are as follows:

Jann - Lori
Vickie - Susan
Angela - Patti

Email your partner for her address . Here are the participants links

Whispers of Inspiration * Vickie
Out of The Mouth The Heart Speaks * Lori
Black Berry Creek * Susan
A Vintage Heart * Jann
Angelia's Trinkets * Angela


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

LOVELINESS


Here is my latest collage. It is a 2 dimensional collage done on Masonite with handmade paper as the background of the first dimension and acrylic paint on the second dimension and an image of a beautiful young women. The image is sealed. It measures 8 x 10 . I call it "Loveliness"

Sunday, October 12, 2008

I for the past month been observing a garden spider just outside my bathroom window. I will be the first to say I HATE spiders. I have been afraid of them since I was a small child . However since I have had the opportunity to watch this garden spider build her web it has been quite and experience. Each day she builds the web and each morning it is all torn up and sometimes gone all together. I watched her build it and it was such an interesting thing to watch. She actually had a "friend" a smaller spider that seemed to be helping her build. We have had some heavy rains over the past week and when the web is wet it looks so beautiful!

When we returned from Portland last week the web was gone and I did not see the spider so I thought maybe a bird got her but yesterday there she was building it again. It has given me a new respect for spiders to watch this spider building her web EVERYDAY! Wow, what a worker.

Anyway since it is the spooky Halloween season and spiders are scary creatures I will be posting numerous pictures and articles on spiders.

I found this one online. Enjoy!
Hey guys don't forget about my Halloween ATC Challenge. Come on and join in the fun!
Even spiders create!!!!

SPIDER WEBS
  October has the scent of Autumn. Autumn is falling colored leaves. The smell of acidic oak leaves, and fresh cold
morning airs. Autumn is also the time for cool damp mushroom growing, and for foggy mornings. Which brings us back to
the main topic here-spiderwebs. The damp mornings fill the spiderwebs and spot the sluggish spiders with glistening dew
drops.

This is the spider just outside my window. Just look at her web how beautiful it is when it is wet from the rain.

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  Just when you thought it was safe to go outside...! You would be shocked if you thought the itsy-bitsy spider was
confined to an occasional web in the field, but look what we find when the dew settles and the sun rises upon the scene.
Hundreds of various shaped spiderwebs dotting the field!

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  I had stumbled upon a few photos on the internet which were awesome. The photos were of refracted sunlight through the
strands of a spider web. Other photos were of 'rainbows' appearing on dew covered leaves and spiderwebs. I have
photographed both of these bows, but have never seen the colors coming from spiderweb strands. Incedently, you must
have the camera out-of-focus to make the colors appear.

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  The first photo is a spider on top of a mesquito caught in the web.

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  I have have finally tried spiderwebs in the fog. The intracate details in a spiders web are brought out by the dew in
a beautiful glistening manner. Many different spiders, many different webs. Here at sunrise I shot a few photos...

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All photos available for sale at: 'universed4@yahoo.com'
All photos are copyrighted. No use or duplicating without written permission.

This following article is so interesting because I watched my spider build her web and it was just as you see here. It just amazing to watch.

The construction of a wheel web

How does an orb web spider make its web?

The most difficult part seems to be the first thread. Does the spider fly? Does she throw a line to the other side? Does she walk down and up at the other side carrying a thread that she attaches between the two sides?

No, none of these ideas are true. The solution is simple. The spider releases a sticky thread that is blown away with the wind. If the breeze carried the silken line to a spot where it sticks the first bridge is formed. The spider cautiously crosses along the thin line reinforcing it with a second line. She enforces the line until it is strong enough.

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After this the spider constructs a loose thread and constructs a Y shaped thread.
These are the first three radii of the web. Then a frame is constructed to attach the other radii to.

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After all the radii are completed the spider start to make the circular threads. At first non-sticky construction threads a made. The distance between the threads is so wide that the spider can span the width with her legs.

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Finally the sticky thread is woven between the circulars thread. While attaching the sticky thread to the radii the construction thread is removed by the spider.
Then web is completed with non sticky radii and sticky circular threads and the spider can rest and sit in the center of the web with her head down.

After a night of hunting the web becomes worn out. The spider removes the silk in the morning by eating it, only leaving the first bridge line. After a daytime rest the spider constructs a new web in the evening. If the catch was low and the web is not heavily damaged the web may stay during the day and be reused after minor repairing.
There are a lot of variations on this type of orb web. The web shown is made by the orb web spiders Araneus diadematus. Spiders of other families construct other types of web.